Volkstaat (1983: Doomsday)
Volkstaat is a Boer and Afrikaner survivor state in the former African nation of South Africa and is a member nation of the . Its name in Afrikaans means "People's Nation". The nation's origin lies in the trek led by General Constand Viljoen to establish a free state for Afrikaners, free from danger. History Doomsday Following Doomsday, South Africa was faced with many problems. For one, it was on the verge of collapse. Following Doomsday, several black revolutionists attempted to overthrow white Afrikaners from the seats of government. While South Africa itself was not affected in any physical form on Doomsday, the discontent of the apartheid which divided the races of South Africa, and the collapse of international trade all harbored a Black vs. White Revolution that brought the government of South Africa to its knees. Post-Doomsday See Also: Azanian League Following the fall of Pretoria, and what was left of the loyal South African military troops lead an exodus of over 600,000 white South Africans west. Thousands were lost along the trek, with many choosing to settle in the Orange Free State instead, where rumors that the White-African government was having better luck than in Pretoria, others simply to attrition due to lack of supplies. Many settled in abandoned farms along the route as well as taking up residence in what would eventually be known as Waterboersland, but eventually nearly 400,000 reached Cape Province around the town of Douglas. It was here that Viljoen laid out his vision for the Volkstaat, a state Afrikaaners could call their own. He planned to move further west, but that the going would be harder than already, and that if some wished to stay behind, he would leave some of his soldiers to protect them and upon the establishment of the Volkstaat they would be welcomed. A good number of the English-speaking refugees of the group, some 30,000 people remained, some staying in Douglas using their expertise as engineers to improve the terrain, and some spreading out to establish themselves as herdsman or farmers in the surrounding lands. They continued to move west, and took the towns of Springbok and Vredendal. The trekkers soon began to settle in these towns and began to restart abandoned farms as well as the small amounts of industry present in both cities. Under the leadership of Viljoen, the settlements would develop successfully after the first years - which were filled with hardships. Eventually, the two towns would grow sufficient enough after trading with one another to once more begin expanding the area of their influence. And so, on December 17th, 1991, the Nation of Volkstaat was declared. Soon, the shreds of South African government that remained in the region were forced to accept the letter that declared Volkstaat's sovereignty and Viljoen's supreme control of the nation. Coastal Expansion One of the first acts of the new government of Volkstaat was not to go east, but to move west and secure the coast to ensure trade from the sea arrives safely and raiders do not damage goods and tradesmen heading to Volkstaat. Therefore, in January 1992, Viljoen ordered soldiers to move west and secure the coast and bring it under the full control of Volkstaat. His soldiers would move from Springbok and Vredrendal. Troops moving from Springbok would focus on getting to the coast and establishing small outposts. From here, they would begin to move southward before meeting up with a small contingent from Vredrendal. Meanwhile, soldiers from Vredrendal would head south, moving down along the coast. They would take Lambert's Bay as they began to expand their area of influence and establish a small outpost for their soldiers. Both these events took around three years to complete, but by 1995 - most of the coast was secure and the nation could decide where to place their port. Viljoen was personally consulted, and he decided to choose Lambert's Bay to become the premier port of Volkstaat. The town was renamed Lambert and almost immediately, migration to the small town was encouraged to try to create a suitable dock for large trading vessels to dock with and trade and sell their goods. A Brother In the spring of 1992, a large group of white refugees, numbering around 10,000, arrived in Volkstaat. Heading west from the black-supremacist government of the Azanian League and the white-supremacist governments of Heiligdom and the Orange Free State, the trekkers were looking for a safe haven. And they were in luck, as when the entered Volkstaat territory, they were greeted warmly by the soldiers manning the outposts. However, confusion soon set in - as many of the soldiers recognised the man leading the refugees to be Constand Viljoen. But how could this be so? Viljoen was in the capital of Springbok. By the time the refugees arrived in the capital, rumours were already flying around saying that Viljoen had gone to find more refugees in need of help. Viljoen himself had head these rumours and was waiting at the gates of the city to see himself what the fuss was about. The person he saw shocked him. It was someone who looked identical to him, and he remembered the person standing in front of his was none other than Abraham Viljoen - his identical twin brother. Constand was reportedly thought to have broken down at the sight of his brother as he had expected his brother to have died. The brothers then spent time talking to each other, and through this, Viljoen got a picture of what was happening in the east of South Africa. The regions from where he had lead his initial exodus from had now reformed into the , while the had grown in power and population. This soon confirmed his fears that Volkstaat did not have many allies, and so he sent out diplomats to the states in the east to see if he could forge trading agreements and possibly alliances. The diplomats met with leaders from Waterboersland, the OFS, New Britain and then finally the Republic of the Cape. They generally got favourable responses from most nations and decided to pursue trading with these nations to try to expand Volkstaat's economy. However, the nation was shocked with New Britain - and what its origins were. They had not expected the British to have established a survivor state in South Africa. However, after initial hiccups, relations began to become better in comparison. Yet Volkstaat was still a bit hesitant pursing greater economic ties with the nation. However, there was still the problem of where to house the refugees, who were beginning to strain the already stretched resources. So when news came that the small town of Lambert's Bay had been captured, Viljoen gave the orders to relocate the 10,000 or so refugees to the town, renamed to Lambert, to help make into a major port for Volkstaat. Along with the refugees, some 5000 more traveled to the small town to settle it and expand its infrastructure. "They can vote!" As Volkstaat expanded its borders, it began to see refugees enter its nation from the Republic of the Cape - its main trading partner of the region. Although relations with the Cape were favourable, due to the moderation of Abraham Viljoen - the mixed and black refugees were allowed to stay and eventually helped to settle many towns which were short in population. Soon, however, the central government under Viljoen, who by this time had formed an interim government which included his brother, began to face problems relating to raiding of their lands conducted by the warlords of the region. Thus, in 1995, the highly trained military of Volkstaat - formed from mainly army personnel of former South Africa began to combat this problem by taking out warlords who were threatening the nation. However, this proved to only anger the other warlords - many of whom formed an alliance against Volkstaat to combat the troops which were beginning to attack their lands. Volkstaat soon began to face a shortage in manpower - and they began to recruit Blacks with fighting experience into their armed forces. Their numbers soon swelled and this soon led to a point that the army could not supply all the new recruits. To solve this, ammunition and guns seized from rebels were used to arm the troops. Using larger numbers, in the spring of 1996 - the Volkstaat Army began a large counter-attack against the warlords, killing a large number of them and beginning to absorb their forces into militia forces of Volkstaat and use them against other warlords. Not only did this remove many of the warlords, it helped expand the borders of Volkstaat eastward. Yet incorporating the warlord forces would be easier said than done. Not only were they unwilling to fight for the government, they did not have a motive to do so. To ensure they could gain their loyalty, the government offered the soldiers the chance to claim their own land and becoming governors of small towns if the land they owned had people arrive to work it. Many militiamen took up the offer, and convinced other militiamen - usually those under them in the hierarchy - to work with them and become part of small communities - making the person claiming the land a governor of the settlement. This soon proved to be a master-stroke as it would not only allow the establishment of countless settlements, it would also ensure the loyalty of the militiamen lay with Volkstaat. Using these extra numbers, Volkstaat was able to successfully continue the fight against the warlords and either kill them or force them to leave the lands. This gave them roads which linked with major settlements within Volkstaat and also gave the nation a feeling of security as it now controlled regions which had no threats from warlords. With this, in 1997, talks of election and a properly elected government began to take place. Issues began to arise almost immediately as much of the blacks and mixed population within the region wanted the right to vote in the election, while much of the white population was unsure of their view on whether the blacks and mixed peoples should be allowed to vote or not. Yet there was a significant minority advocating not giving the votes to the mixed and black peoples, or even the blacks. It was at this point that Constand Viljoen affirmed to the nation why he was a good leader. In a historic statement, Viljoen stated over radio to the nation that "if blacks can die for us, they can vote!". Although many viewed the statement negatively, or even disgust, most believed this was the correct move and Viljoen's popularity within the nation reached an all time high. Thus, when the first elections occurred on the 29th of August, Viljoen's party, the Volkstaat Front won a sweeping majority. They easily established control over parliament and within the year began to write the constitution of the nation. The constitution, completed in early 1998, promised free and equal rights for all citizens of Volkstaat, regardless of race. However, it did stress Volkstaat as an Afrikaaner state and allowed for the teaching of Afrikaaner values in school. The constitution also looked to establish a sense of inclusiveness for all peoples with the creation of a nationalistic Afrikaaner state, but with the crucial difference of making sure that blacks were included; a difference from old Afrikaaner thinking, which only believed whites and coloureds could be Afrikaaner. This made "being Afrikaaner" a more nationalistic view compared to a racial one. The constitution was an embodiment of the beliefs of Viljoen's party, the Volkstaat Front. Although largely supported, even by blacks - there were a few blacks who believed that inclusiveness attempts would fail because of previous race issues which had been the cause for the break-up of South Africa. Things were admittedly shaky at the start, yet things did go on to stablise. The New Millennium With the dawn of the new millennium, things were looking up for Volkstaat. After the hardships of the previous two decades, the economy of Volkstaat soon began to grow and people managed to move past subsistence farming and mining. With the growth of the economy and increased stability in the nation, Viljoen then began to lead an aggressive international policy aimed at conquering more land toward the north as well as establishing extensive trading links with the various states in the region in a bid to increase the nation's economic standing. He believed this would enable the economic output to increase, allowing for increased spending in other much needed sectors such as education and healthcare. Viljoen also established a healthy relationship with the Republic of the Cape, with the latter viewing the former in a positive light due to Volkstaat's extensive Afrikaaner policies, viewed positively in the Cape. Over the next few years relations between the two countries continued to better, with Volkstaat adopting the RZA Rand in the fall of 2001. Volkstaat also established greater relations with other states such as New Britain, with Viljoen now being able to sympathise more with the Home-British in New Britain. However, the government had to walk a fine line between the Cape and New Britain due the the former's hate of Anglo-Africans. Viljoen was careful in appeasing both sides, and managed to do so successfully and as a result he was able to establish trading routes with both nations. Volkstaat also came into contact with German South West Africa, another exodus state with origins the large number of refugees arriving from former Germany in the late eighties and early nineties. A small expeditionary party had traveled northward to scout the land for any more survivor communities as well as potential threats to the borders of Volkstaat, and had come across a small settlement flying the GSWA flag. Although there had been some contact between the two states through proxies, this was the first time the two nations' representatives met. In what was described to be a mostly friendly meet, Volkstaat soon learned of the hardships the other nation had faced. When Viljoen was alerted of what the expedetionary party had found out, he quickly looked to establish an official dialogue with GSWA. The leaders of both nations met in Springbok in May 2002 and Viljoen announced his intentions of investing in GSWA to help a fellow state grow economically, benefiting the local region. Such positive actions allowed the Volkstaat Front to keep its majority in Parliament in the 2002 Parliamentary Elections. However, it also saw the rise of the Afrikaans Labour Party, which advocated more laws on equality and a greater effort to establish relations with other survivor states and possible unification. The Labour Party performed well in the elections, leading many to believe in the government that more efforts were needed on the international relations front. With this in mind, more effort was made to establish economic relations with states such as Waterboersland and the Orange Free State. However, there were a few hiccups in negotiations with the OFS, as the white supremacist government viewed the delegation representing Volkstaat with suspicion and even horror due to their efforts to incorporate blacks into the nation and government. Discussions were at times frosty, but in the end Volkstaat did achieve a useful economic treaty with the Free State, which would see growth in Volkstaat's small but expanding industrial output. New Union and Hardships Volkstaat did not end its attempts for a greater unity to be establish in the region, far from it, they stepped up their efforts. The nation was at the forefront of the establishment of discussions on a new economic union between nations in 2003. This would help to provide some sort of counter-weight to the Azanian League to the east. Although initially New Britain showed interest, it soon became clear that such a union would not be beneficial to them as it would involve having to co-operate with the Republic of the Cape. The Orange Free State, too, was initially interested in the new Union being proposed, but once it became clear that apartheid policies would be abolished, soon lost all interest. Surprisingly, German South West Africa did show interest in the planned union, the move inspired by a wish for greater security. The nations of Volkstaat, Waterboersland, German South West Africa and the Republic of the Cape all came together to form the New Union of South Africa on February 12, 2004. The black majority nations which had so far remained neutral in South African politics soon became interested with NUSA due to its advocating of anti-apartheid policies. Within a year, KwaZulu had joined the union and Lesotho soon followed. Both these nations helped to significantly bolster the population numbers of the new union, with the small state of Lesotho having a larger standing army than the states of Volkstaat, Waterboersland and GSWA combined. However, the economic growth of the union still remained toward the west of the nation, no small part due to Volkstaat, which saw economy treble since the re-election of the Volkstaat front by 2005. This created the false impression for the government that Volkstaat could now invest in other nations and potentially be the the driving force of economic growth, losing focus on the fact that Volkstaat could not support such an economic stance for long. By 2006, buoyed by the successes of his government in the previous nine years, Volkstaat began to invest heavily in the economies of Waterboersland, German South West Africa and KwaZulu. In one year alone, some 25% of Volkstaat's economic output was invested into the three nations - creating an unsustainable boom in the region. The money was poured into infrastructure projects - helping all three nations increase industrial output significantly within a year and allowing for the creation of a stable agricultural sector. It also inadvertently allowed for the spread of the Dutch Reformist Church into German South West Africa and Waterboersland. However, with the invasion of the Cape by a joint ANZC-SAC coalition force, to depose the regime in control of the state, led to a huge decrease in government confidence. This soon impacted the economy and caused a crash in Volkstaat while other nations continued their steady growth - albeit at a slower pace - causing resentment toward the government. The elections in 2007 saw for the first time the break from support toward the Volkstaat Front, with the Afrikaans Labour Party for the first time gaining a small majority in parliament. The government announced a massive stimulus for the economy, aimed to create massive public employment projects. However, a strong business culture had already been established under the conservative Volkstaat Front, thus allowing the nation to recover from the effects quicker than many anticipated and growth returned by 2009, athough the nation remained in debt until 2013. The government's policies in the current term allowed for greater industrial production to be established as more small industry became state-owned, while the government looked to work with the other nations in NUSA on a more social perspective, the government did not focus on regaining the revenues caused by investment in the region. The Labour Party looked to establish more joint control with the nations over many other matters such as military, and on a smaller level economically, all the while many started to believe Volkstaat was becoming under-represented and blacks were getting priority over whites. This did lead to small racist riots in 2011, which soon dissipated into nothing, but led to a boost in support for the Volkstaat Front once more - which promised to distance itself from members and look toward Volkstaat's economic gain. With elections in 2012, the Volkstaat Front once again gained a majority and formed the government. Viljoen, although aging, led the government for what many believed would be the last time. Present Day Volkstaat in recent years has once again begun to experience stable growth. The economy grew to pre-2008 levels by 2012 and economic output once again increased. The Volkstaat Front kept promises and soon begin to invest the revenue their investments in other nations had created back into the economy. The mining sector, along with the military and merchant navy became the main benefactors of this investment. However, the government kept up with other proposals established by the previous government, with an announcement on April 14, 2012 stating that the currency of the respective nations would begin to be phased out and be replaced by the Union Rand. This process was completed by November 23, by which date the Union Rand had become the most popular currency in NUSA - allowing the Union to grow significantly over the next year. Volkstaat also began another main phase of expansion, aimed at capturing lands toward the north and establishing a border with GSWA on the Orange river in late 2012. Using its highly trained army, Volkstaat was able to make much progress in capturing lands all along the river - obtaining valuable farmlands in the process while eradicating small warlords still operating in the region. Almost immediately, another attempt to encourage migration was encouraged by the government. Each farm that would be settled would receive a small subsidy from the government to help get the farm running again. This move was aimed to ease the pressures central cities like Springbok and Vredendal, which had expanded to house more than 50,000 people, while the original capacities for such towns was no greater than 20,000 people. Viljoen saw that his efforts had allowed for the population to decrease slightly in both cities, however it was clear that an already established population centre would be needed to allow for the pressures for both towns to see any real decrease. Viljoen thus ordered for gradual expansions of the borders until there came a time the nation would be able to expand toward the pre-doomsday city of Upington. In the meanwhile, more efforts would be make to establish more farms - to try to balance out the recent industrialisation trends of the nation. Viljoen also began efforts to re-build a healthy relationship with New Britain, which had suffered heavily after its "invasion" into the Cape, and was surprised to see that the government of New Britain was as receptive as Volkstaat was to the attempts. It seemed as if its invasions had led New Britain to feel isolated in the region and was willing to look past previous blunders for better economic links in the region. Volkstaat and New Britain signed extensive trading agreements in July 2013, with an additional clause allowing Volkstaat to become an observer member of the African Economic Community if it so wished. This move helped NB investment flood into the region, allowing the nation to amp up its agricultural efforts while New Britain found a new market for its industrial products as well as another region it could send specialists to help Volkstaat expand its industrial sector. Popular opinion soon began to favour admission into the AEC, as an observer member initially, as New Britain began to fill a role which the former Republic of the Cape used to fulfill. Viljoen used the economic relations to buy heavier firearms from New Britain as plans were made to move north and capture the town of Upington. Viljoen once again began to pursue the aggressive international policy which the Volkstaat Front was associated with but he made sure to put in safeguards so the events that led to the great recession of 2007-8 did not repeat itself. He was in favour for a more centralised military command structure for NUSA, beginning talks with the other nations to organise war games. However, KwaZulu wished for a greater focus to be placed on the nation as it did have the largest military out of all five member nations. This move began to alienate the western nations, especially Volkstaat which felt that it would become sidelined. This led to Volkstaat begin to distance itself from the other nations, with the nation hosting a conference in December between itself, Waterboersland and GSWA aiming to establish a closer link between the three nations and hopefully joint borders to ensure trading routes were safe. New Britain was invited as an observing member, and offered the other two nations observer status into the AEC after Volkstaat would join. On February 25, 2014, Volkstaat joined the AEC as an observer member. This move started the other nations questioning whether it was still valid to have a NUSA when Volkstaat and other western members were considering leaving. This was reinforced when German South West Africa and Waterboersland both joined the AEC as observer states in April 2014. Discussions soon started within states such as KwaZulu and Lesotho whether it would be beneficial for the new union to dissolve and whether both nations would be better suited with a local defensive alliance. Meanwhile, Volkstaat launched another major offensive to expand its borders in March, supported by New Britain and Waterboersland, in a bid to ensure all trading routes were fully safe to operate on. Newly rearmed, the Volkstaat Defense Force moved into the town of Upington - to depose the warlord in control of the town and the surrounding regions and establish Afrikaan dominion over the region. Although other warlords had often negotiated with Volkstaat to become part of the nation as long as they became governors of their towns, the warlord of Upington felt he could take on Volkstaat. In under two weeks, the town of Upington as the warlord regime was defeated by the highly trained and effective VDF and on March 23, the flag of Volkstaat flew over the city. Along with this, the city's 20,000 inhabitants come under Volkstaat law. The VDF was greeted with mostly cheer as the previous dictator had used the resources of the region to fund his personal militia and mansion and had made the live of the people miserable. Almost immediately funds were allocated to expand and repair the buildings and farms of the city and the surrounding region to help expand the housing capabilities of the city as well as rebuild the previous industry in the region. The control of the town also allowed for a working railway station and an untouched airport to come under the control of Volkstaat. Trains were running from the city within a month to other regions in Volkstaat and New Britain. It is predicted that by mid-2015, Upington will grow to house a population of more than 50,000. The capturing of the city also convinced all three nations to come to the table to negotiate officially recognised borders. Volkstaat came together with other nations of NUSA on 18 September to discuss the future of NUSA. On 26 September it was announced the Article for the Dissolution of the New Union of South Africa was signed by all five members. Within a month, Volkstaat became a full member of the African Economic Community on 16 October. Government Volkstaat is a strongly democratic country, although it was founded by a military general. Economy The economy of Volkstaat is primarily agricultural, with most of the nation's population living in rural regions. Economic dealings have allowed for a significant increase in crop yield - along with more favourable weather patterns which have allowed farmers to export a significant percentage of their crops. This has helped support the expanding of Volkstaat's industry. Craftsmaking is another factor of the economy. The nation was economically tied to the Republic of the Cape and New Britain. However, the nation began to trade more heavily with its other NUSA partners and helped to cut its reliance on New Britain majorly, while helping the state of KwaZulu develop its industrial and military base. Former currency: RZA Rand Military Operates 8000 expert troops. 2000 police troops. No reservists. Definitely unisex armed forces due to the need to have troops - like Israel. Hardware partner - New Britain, RZA. International Relations Volkstaat was a founding member in the , an economic and geopolitical alliance that made up several nations throughout former Namibia and South Africa. Since its establishment in 2004, the nations of the union grew closer - both geographically and relation-wise. The nations were beginning to act more collectively and economic co-operation was growing between them, but many political bigwigs in Volkstaat felt the country was being under-represented and early in 2014 began to distance itself from the other members. This culminated in the dissolution of NUSA on September 26, 2014 as other nations too felt that NUSA's purpose was outdated. It was represented in the League of Nations as the New Union of South Africa, however it has applied for a separate membership. Category:African countries (1983: Doomsday) Category:South Africa